Anders Zimmer, 14, of Grand Marais, had an exciting end to his ski race season, competing in the Junior Olympics in Vail and Beaver Creek, Colorado March 3 – 10.
Anders Zimmer, 14, of Grand Marais, competed at the Junior Olympics held in Vail and Beaver Creek, Colorado on March 3 – 10, under sunny blue skies and temps that reached in the 60s. The Junior Olympics bring together the top 90 racers ages 13 to 15 years old across the United States, and Vail rolls out the red carpet for the young skiers.
This year Anders took part in the bib draw, an honor bestowed on the top 10 qualifiers in each event. The bib draw participants get to pick their running order for that race event. Anders qualified for the bib draw in the Downhill and Super G events where he picked 21 and 15 start positions. “It was very exciting for Anders to be in that elite level of racers, to be called up before the crowd to claim his bib number,” said his father, Jason Zimmer.
Anders started off with two stunning training runs in Downhill in which he placed a very respectable 8th and 13th. This event includes racers from the big mountain areas like Utah and Colorado. Participants reach speeds of around 75 miles per hour.
As the Junior Olympic races got underway, Anders’ first race of the event was the Downhill. Anders had a slight miscue and a loss of about 2.5 seconds at the top of the course but fought back and nailed the bottom of the course to place 38th in this onerun event.
The next day was the Super G race. Anders started the day feeling under the weather with a case of the flu, however he did not let that get him down. He put down a very strong run which put him in 18th place for this event, which was also a one-run event.
Thenext race was the Giant Slalom. The race was held on another day of warm temperatures under sunny skies, leaving the soft snow on the course rutted. Anders, still feeling the effects of the flu, fought his way through the course of this two-run event and was in 38th place in the Giant Slalom standings.
The final event was the Slalom, which was held in Beaver Creek. Anders had the misfortune of running second-to-last on the course, which was in very rough shape with huge ruts and extremely soft snow.
Despite the challenging race order, Anders fought his way up to respectable 43rd place and was happy with his two runs. Just making it down this course—which had abovethe knee ruts before Anders had his run—was an achievement on its own.
“It was a great way to end the season,” said Jason Zimmer. “It was great to see a kid from the Midwest do so well!”
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